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Dragon
Origins Dragons are the purest creatures of flesh, closer even than nymphs to being pure spirit. Due to this, they are entities of tremendous spiritual potency, the true embodiments of their precepts. The most powerful dragons affect the very fabric of nature around them. The oldest dragons are almost akin to divinities in strength, and many of them compete with asura-level spirits for the vacant crowns of divinity. All dragons trace their ancestry back to a single progenitor – one of the so-called “primeval" dragons. The primeval dragons were each created by one Primordial, each type for a different purpose, and these entities of vast power and spiritual influence all obtained their own Crown of Divinity in the wake of the Great Divide. All flesh is impure, an unpleasant compounding of spirits of various types in an unclean expression of substance. However, of all creatures of flesh, the dragons are the purest, each species synthesised from a mixture of spirits overwhelmingly representative of the line of their parent Primordial. For example, the flesh of most creatures is composed mainly of facet gaeas, sylphs and undines, but the flesh of a kulshedra (fire dragon) contains only a small proportion of these elementals and is for the most part comprised of efreets. It is for their purity that spirits converse with dragons far more often than they generally do with other species of the Fleshlands. Lifespan Dragons age slowly and live for vast stretches of time, leading many to believe them to be immortal. The age of dragons is due to their purity - similarly to nymphs, their constituent spirit facets do not separate from one another as rapidly due to their relative homogeneity. Dragon Biology Being so close to pure spirit, dragons require very little food to sustain them and barely require oxygen. They heal injuries through immersion in their defining elements. Dragons possess specialised glands within their anatomies which contain dense concentrations of spirits of their precept, which can be unleashed as devastating breath weapons. Kushedras contain free efreets (fire breath), negafooks free boreals (frost breath), gwythaints free demons (disease spewing), etc. Due to the relative uniformity of a dragon’s cellular makeup, the bones and muscles of these creatures are incredibly dense, and this allows them to bear their seemingly impossible bulks aloft with wings that, while massive, do not initially appear expansive enough to achieve such a feat. Dragon bone is extremely hard and durable, superior to steel, and diamond, the material that composes a dragon’s heart, is the hardest substance in the world. Dragon blood is a liquid of tremendous potency, and elder dragons guard the secret rites through which they can use their vital essence to spawn semi-intelligent “pseudo-dragons” which loyally serve their will. Athancs Diamonds in Thaelis-Y’Arda are the hearts of dragons, and come in nine colours/varieties: Sky blue (wyvern), clear (negafook), black (gwythaint), violet (jabberwock), green (linnorm), red (kulshedra), yellow (verethra), grey (nidhogg) and deep blue (naga). Diamond, also called “dragonstone” or “heartstone” is the hardest substance in the world, more than a match even for steel, and it requires specialist tools to carve and cut this stone. Items crafted from the hearts of dragons are said to have mighty properties reflecting the dragon breed from which the diamond was harvested. The diamond athanc is an ancient invention of the Primordials, and is composed of an ultra-dense conglomeration of diverse spirit varieties. Due to the immense purity of dragonflesh, this substance is unable to house a soul, and so the diamond heart of a dragon serves as the literal house of its soul, an "anchor" keeping its conscious essence within its body. Dragons A dragon's soul (and therefore its consciousness) is housed within its athanc - the great diamond that is its heart. Long ago, several ancient and maleficent dragons discovered the esoteric rites necessary to remove a dragon heart from its body, and in doing so render it deathless, much like the mortal liches known as koschei. Known as an "apophis", a heartless dragon is a fearsome entity indeed. With its soul residing within its disembodies athanc (which is itself normally secreted within an inaccessible and heavily guarded location), the dragon can still see the world through its its body, which is rendered nigh-immortal and indestructible. Unless the athanc itself is destroyed utterly, the dragonflesh will re-stitch itself upon damage and even piece itself back together if utterly obliterated. The athanc must be completely destroyed to kill the beast - mere fragmentation splits the dragon's mind into its separate aspects, each aspect consigned to a different fragment. Should the diamond be reunited into a whole, the apophis once more becomes fully cognisant and can once more control its distant body. Perhaps the most notable dragon to ever become an apophis is Vaeliang, and ancient and terrible gwythaint who has on two separate occasions almost succeeded in facilitating the end of Creation. While her body has been dispatched and immobilised twice, her soul still remains conscious and aware, trapped within her athanc which rests in the temple of Keluxax within the lost kitsune city of Marl.